I’m always impressed with how a talented creative person can take a concept and come up with an unexpected interpretation that enables others to understand an aspect of that concept from a dramatically different perspective. Such is the case with Sarah Hatton, a contemporary visual artist based in Chelsea, Quebec, who has developed a knack for employing non-traditional materials in service to her artistic vision.

Her “Detachment” series utilizes thousands of brass fastener pins, each originally stamped with a star on its head, salvaged from archival paper records maintained on Canadian soldiers during their WWI service and repurposes these pins to map out constellations of stars matching those that the soldiers would have seen during key battles of the time. This video from her artist site gives a nice overview of this brilliant work.

Another body of her work seeks to raise awareness about the adverse effects of pesticides on declining honeybee populations. This award-winning work incorporates dead bees into depictions of some of the natural geometric patterns found in the flora pollinated by these indispensable but threatened creatures. Wow!

Sarah Hatton, Circle 1 (2013)

Hatton is also an accomplished painter. Her artist site showcases several series of imaginative paintings that reflect her curiosity about the natural world and individual mortality. I especially like her “Fathom” series, which seems to play with ideas about the vulnerability and comfort that we feel with watery environments.